The winter of 1998-1999 was hard for the religious right.
They lost an election in November 1998 and in February 1999, the Senate
failed to convict the President in the impeachment trial. In February
1999, Paul Weyrich wrote a letter that tried to explain what had happened.
In this essay, I will discuss Paul Weyrich and his historical importance.
In February 1999, Paul wrote a widely circulated letter to his colleagues on the religious right. Attempts to restore morality "through the political process have failed" and suggesting that conservatives build up "parallel institutions" like home schools and religious radio. "I no longer believe that there is a moral majority. I do not believe that a majority of Americans actually share our values. If there really were a moral majority out there, Bill Clinton would have been driven from office months ago."
American culture has become "an ever-widening sewer." He urged his followers to "turn off, tune out, and drop out of American culture." While he was "not suggesting that we all become Amish or move to Idaho," he believes that "we have to look at what we can do to separate ourselves from this hostile culture." "What steps can we take to make sure that we and our children are not infected? We need some sort of quarantine." "We have probably lost the culture war." The cultural collapse was "so great that it simply overwhelms politics."
(The advice to "turn off, tune out, and drop out" reminds me of my happy days at Berkeley in the 60's when the Free Speech Movement ended with the singing of Yellow Submarine and the theme change yourself and forget about changing society.)
Who is Paul Weyrich and why should we care what he says? In 1992, an old friend of our family (Michele McKeegan) wrote a book (Abortion Politics) that explains how a small group (including Howard Phillips, Paul Weyrich, Richard Viguerie, and Pat Bucannan ) created the modern Republican party that is dominated by the religious right.
In 1964, Barry Goldwater's campaign energized many young conservatives and gave them vital political experience. After the Goldwater defeat, the group formed think tanks and concluded that the New Deal Democratic coalition that had dominated national elections for three decades was collapsing.
The civil rights revolution turned the conservative southern Democrats into Republicans. The nation's population center moved from the Rust Belt and Northeast to the South and West. Blue collar union members became affluent and moved to the suburbs and blue collar jobs disappeared. The young conservatives concluded that Americans were moving to the right on social issues like school prayer and abortion and that a combination of economic conservatism (low taxes) and social conservatism would create a powerful new conservative majority.
The young conservatives began to organize to take over the Republican party when Gerald Ford named the archmoderate Nelson Rockefeller as vice president in 1974. It was Weyrich who understood the political importance of the abortion issue. From the outset, no candidate got his backing without first declaring an opposition to abortion.
Passionately committed to his pro-life stand, Weyrich had no patience for those who accepted abortion under certain conditions, such as danger to the woman's life. "I believe that if you have to choose between new life and existing life, you should choose new life. The person who has had an opportunity to live has been given that gift by God and should make way for new life on earth."
While we might be encouraged when such a fierce and successful opponent
of abortion considers giving up the political fight, the legacy of 25 years
of work by the religious right is that anti-abortion forces control both
houses of Congress.
The next Supreme Court will determine whether access to reproductive
choice and appropriate services survives at all or is further crippled.
The next President will likely have three if not four appointments to make for Supreme Court vacancies. Unfortunately three of the four regular votes against reproductive choice now are younger justices. Most of the regular (or even occasional) pro-choice justices are older and/or have health problems.
In addition, six years of Republican Congress delay and stalling in filling regular federal court vacancies have left much of the federal bench empty. This large backlog of vacancies and any Supreme Court openings are clearly targetted for anti-choice judges if a Republican President is elected.
Candidate George W. Bush has traded strongly on his "100% pro life" record in the primaries. In contrast, candidate Al Gore has firmly supported a woman's right to choose.
It remains to be seen if reproductive choice becomes an issue in the fall campaign. Even those women voters who are prochoice aren't always aware of the stakes in this election.
There's only one chance to keep Roe v. Wade for the next decade and
that's THIS FALL - NOVEMBER 7. Help spread the word!